Brain
Age makes Edu-tainment fun...for the first time ever.
by Cole Smith

April
13, 2006 - For
those of you that believe that you may have suffered
irreversible brain damage from playing mindless shooters
and watching too many episodes of Nick and Jessica,
help is on the way. There's no doubt that you've suffered
brain damage, but thanks to Brain Age, it is irreversible.

The
slogan for Brain Age is: Train Your Brain in Minutes
a Day. I know it sounds like work, but this is way
more fun than flossing. It's like playing a bunch
of puzzle-based mini-games. As long as you still have
the capacity to learn, you will get better at these
challenges each time that you play them and thus you
will train your brain.

You
begin with a test to determine your brain age. You
will receive a score that you can think of as a relative
IQ level. The older your brain age, the worse off
you are. You don't want to have the mind of the average
70-year old, but it can be a real shocker when you
find that out. However, your brain age will become
younger over the days and weeks as you play this game.

Now
here's the bad news, there is math involved. Yes,
you will have to perform some calculations. None of
them are exceptionally hard and it's nothing that
you haven't done in school. It's just that you might
not remember your multiplication table if you've been
out of school for a while and do everything with a
computer or calculator. I didn't do very good on the
math at first but after a few days it comes back to
you. You really do have all the resources to do well
in this game, it's just a matter or retrieving those
old files that might be buried in a sludge of gray
matter. Now here's the good news, you are limited
to playing this game for only five minutes a day.

The
gameplay is based on the theories of Japanese neuroscientist,
Dr. Ryuta Kawashima who believes that these exercises
will stimulate somewhat dormant areas of the brain.
Nourishing oxygen is then introduced to these regions
which are stimulated by these challenges, allowing
them to become more functional in your day-to-day
activity. As these newly stimulated regions become
linked, your brain will become a much more powerful
tool.

The
DS is held sideways so that it opens like a book.
You will make use of all the controls as well as the
touch screen and the stylus which is used for drawing
and writing. When writing the correct answers or numbers,
you might find that the CPU doesn't recognize some
of your handwriting. This could be due to poor spelling
and poor handwriting. In any case if you continue
to play the game in the nature that it was intended,
your spelling and handwriting will show signs of improvements.
I found the other controls functioned perfectly.

The
math segment is basically a drill. You'll be shown
several simple equations that you have to solve. There
is a speed element to it so you'll eventually train
yourself to be faster and more accurate. You'll notice
that you improve a lot quicker if you have an audience,
or better yet, some competition. Up to 16 players
can take part in the various tests. Brain Age also
comes with a version of the popular puzzle game Sudoku.
It's a popular number-based game similar to a crossword
puzzle. You have a series of grids, nine rows by nine
columns. Each puzzle begins with some numbers appearing
in various grids. You have to fill in the empty grids
with numbers from one to nine without repeating any
in either the corresponding row or column. There is
only one number that will fit into each of the 81
grids. It can really bust your brain. In yet another
math game you will have to keep track of the number
of people at a party, as they come and go.

There's
more to Brain Age than just math games. In another
test you will have to memorize as many four-letter
words as you can in two minutes. You will also have
to memorize sequences of numbers. There are dots to
connect, syllables to count, differences to detect
and even a segment which will have you read out loud.
Apparently reading out loud is very brain stimulating.
Here, try reading this out loud: "Why am I so
#~*&+%$ dumb?" Say it again, this time louder.
What word did you use in place of all those symbols?
Say that word again, but louder. Go ahead, scream
it

At
first some of these challenges might seem almost impossible.
Numbers race past, sequences and questions are popping
up all over the place, but it's something you'll get
used to in a few days. Kawashima is the game's genial,
genius host. He guides you through the series of tests
and helps explain why it's important to stimulate
your Prefrontal Cortex. Maybe if I play the game long
enough I'll know what that is.

Like
the writing recognition software, the voice recognition
system is pretty darn good. It's not perfect and it
can be particularly frustrating when you do have the
right answer, or read the text perfectly, and the
system fails to register it. You will usually find
that you have to speak slowly and enunciate more clearly.
It's not a big deal to get used to in the long run.

The
multi-player mode is fun for competition and while
it can be inspiring, it's not all that interesting
and you'll tire of it quite quickly. The replay value
is in the single-player mode. The game will keep track
of your stats and you'll be able to see how much you've
improved. I've only been at it for a few days and
I'm already seeing some improvement. I did twice as
good as last time - I got two answers right instead
of one

Features:

Brain
Age presents players with a series of mental brain-training
challenges that incorporate word memorization, counting
and reading.

Brain
Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for Nintendo
DS is a fun, rewarding form of entertainment everyone
can enjoy, as it helps players flex their mental
muscles.

Brain
Age is inspired by the research of Professor Ryuta
Kawashima, a prominent Japanese neuroscientist.
His studies evaluated the impact of performing certain
reading and mathematic exercises to help stimulate
the brain.

Features
voice recognition and handwriting recognition.

Come
with the popular newspaper puzzle game, Sudoku.

By
Cole SmithCCC
Senior Writer

Rating
out of 5

Brain
Age: Train Your Brain In Minutes A Day
(DS)

2.5

GraphicsNothing
special in the graphics department, not
that it needs it.

4.0

ControlEither
the voice and handwriting recognition system
have the occasional glitch or I can't talk
and write properly.

3.3

Music
/ Sound FX / Voice ActingNot
much of a show but the entire game is presented
in a professional manner that is not clinical.

4.5

Play
ValueOnce
you get hooked, it's a one-way ticket to
Nerdsville for you smarty.

4.1

Overall
Rating -
Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above
for a final score breakdown.

March
2, 2006 - Video
games have always been given a bad rap. If you're
not shooting at someone, you're running over someone.
If you're not running over someone, you're stabbing
someone...and so on and so forth. Yeah, we get it.
Video games are usually violent and they don't learn
you much, as is evident by my lack of proper grammar
in this sentence. Darn you video games!

If
you've been noticing lately that ye olde cerebral
cortex has been diminishing in all aspects of functionality,
fear not, my fellow braindead vegetables! Nintendo
is using their DS technology and the research inspired
by Professor Ryuta Kawashima to make you smart again,
but be forewarned - If you're stupid now, then use
the Brain Age to get super smart, then stop playing
it, you'll become dumb again - just like the book
Flowers For Algernon (Charly) and let me tell you,
that was one sad book. But you should read it anyway
because reading is good for you and video games are
bad for you. Well, all video games with the exception
of Brain Age and Panty Raider. Oh wait....I've just
been handed something....it appears I was mistaken
and I owe you an apology. Panty Raider isn't good
for you.

I'll
give Nintendo credit - after years of reducing our
brains to mush with fantasies of pointy eared elf-like
heroes who seem to be as common as Elvis impersonators
in their universe, plumbers who save the world without
exposing their buttcracks when they bend over and
giant tie-wearing apes that throw barrels instead
of their own feces, it's about time Nintendo gave
us something back. Namely, the ability to think again.

Brain
Age: Train Your Brain In Minutes A Day! is scheduled
for an April release and if history has shown us anything,
none of you idiots will buy it. Why is that? Because
you're idiots and aren't interested in getting smarter.
Care to prove me wrong? Please note that the awesome
mathematical puzzler Sudoku is also included.

Company
Line:

What
is Brain Age?

Brain
Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for Nintendo
DS is a fun, rewarding form of entertainment everyone
can enjoy, as it helps players flex their mental muscles.
Brain Age is inspired by the research of Professor
Ryuta Kawashima, a prominent Japanese neuroscientist.
His studies evaluated the impact of performing certain
reading and mathematic exercises to help stimulate
the brain.

Brain
Age presents quick mental activities that help keep
your DS brain in shape. Activities include quickly
solving simple math problems, counting people going
in and out of a house simultaneously, drawing pictures
on the Touch Screen, reading classic literature out
loud, and more. You can also play sudoku, the number
puzzle game which has become an extremely popular
feature in U.S. newspapers.

On
your first day of exercise, you will take a series
of tests and get a score that determines how old your
brain is. This number is called your "DS Brain
Age". By performing daily exercises just minutes
a day over weeks and months, the better you'll get
at the exercises and the lower your DS Brain Age will
become.

Why
is brain training good for you?

We
all know as we grow older our bodies change and it
becomes important to regularly exercise to maintain
health and fitness. Our brain is no different. "Use
it or lose it," as the adage goes. New research
indicates mental acuity may be strengthened, like
muscles, with brain exercises.

That's
where Brain Age comes in.

But
how does Brain Age work?

The
Brain Age exercises are designed to stimulate your
brain. Solving simple math and logic problems quickly,
and reading aloud, have been proven to be effective
methods of achieving this goal.

The
distinctive Nintendo DS Touch Screen lets users write
their answers with a Stylus pen, just as though they
were writing on paper or using a Personal Digital
Assistant or "PDA". Furthermore, the Nintendo
DS's voice input identifies particular words you'll
speak during the Stroop Test.

Brain
Age tracks your progression through each exercise
with easy-to-read line charts. Consistently using
Brain Age each day will open new exercises to test
your ability.

Baby
Boomers and test-prepping school kids alike want to
challenge themselves and find ways to stay sharp.
Brain Age acts like a treadmill for the mind. With
the simplicity of the Nintendo DS, and Brain Age's
challenging and rewarding exercises, everyone can
stimulate their DS brain, improving speed and accuracy
of their game play.